Why is it so hard for people to write?

Why is it so hard for people to write? Is it time? Is it laziness? Is it they just don’t enjoy it? There are probably a lot of reasons why people don’t write, but boy should they. It’s unbelievable how helpful it is for you. It’s capturing your mind and who you are as a person in different moments in time.

Why do people love photos? Memories. They love them because it takes them back to a different time. It might bring up a story or a memory of a loved one who’s passed away. Imagine writing that all down. Now it’s not only about what you looked like at that time, but what you thought about. How you acted. Why you thought the things you did. That’s priceless.

Your memories of your past self are priceless. I’m at day 890 in terms of writing in a journal. I’ve missed a lot of days when I’ve not been sober, but I’ve otherwise been writing every day for 2.5 years. That’s a lot, and yet it’s so insignificant in the grand scheme of your life. Obviously depends on how you live and if you make it to old age, because not everyone my age will, but let’s just say old age for arguments sake.

365 days in a year. I’m 25 today. How many days will have happened by the time I’m 65? 40 years. 40 x 365 is 14,600. Imagine 25% of that is gone because you don’t write every day. Still over 10 thousand entries. That’s a ton. You’ll be able to see and track history. When certain moments happened, what were you thinking about? What headspace were you in? Who was around you? What were you stressing about?

In the moment, it’s hard to see the value of that. Tracking our own life for ourselves is not done enough. Most of us are too busy tracking our life for other people. Respectfully, no one cares about you. Just like no one cares about me. People forget about the things you do almost immediately. Yet how many of you have memories of your past that you’re embarrassed about, especially with certain people? I can guarantee the other person in that memory may have no idea that even happened. They don’t value that moment as much as you do.

If you track your thoughts and experiences every day, you can see your growth. You can see how your life changes. It’s also a way to show your future self, kids and relationships who you were. You have evidence of what you were doing or thinking about 5-10 years ago. That’s super valuable, especially if you have kids. To basically have them be able to read your life story as it’s happening. Think about that.

That’s sick.

Yet most people are lazy. It’s not a priority. They don’t make themselves a priority. They’re so busy trying to please other people that they forget why they’re living their life. They get caught up in a life and feel like that’s it, there’s no way out. Lemme tell you something, that’s a lie society tells you.

You can do whatever you want.

Our parents and grandparents’ generation didn’t have that ability. They were restricted by geography or socio-economic status where the rich could afford to have their kids be at the best education institutions in the world. Now with the Internet, everything is fair game. Anyone can be anything. It’s in your hands.

If you want to be a dancer, go spend hundreds of hours learning dance videos from Youtube. After spending enough time failing at something over and over again, eventually you become good enough at it that people think you’re an expert. Really you just dedicated a set amount of time to a specific task.

Learn how to learn. One of the most important life skills in being successful. If you apply yourself to situations where other people won’t take the lead and figure it out as you go, you’ll go so much farther than others. While everyone is comfortable where they are, which is absolutely fine if they’re happy, you’re busy trying to figure out how the game of life is played.

The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. There’s so much knowledge and information in the world, but it’s so hard to sift through it. Most of it is noise. The noise of everyday. News, politics, social media, TV shows. That’s what most people are focused on in their day-to-day life.

If you stay in that mindset, you’ll never grow. You’re stuck where you are. Time will pass and you won’t have any idea how. To live a unique life, you have to do unique things. You have to do things that seem crazy to other people. Move halfway around the world at 17 to study medicine? Yea. Be the only kid in your graduating class at medical school, a class of 250, to have successfully left medicine? Yes. Moving to Amsterdam 2 days before getting ready to move to London, England? Sign me up.

Most people don’t get those opportunities. They’re bound by their circumstances. They don’t know what they don’t know. I got lucky. I had parents who pushed me to be better and to learn and try everything under the sun. Golf, tennis, basketball, piano, guitar, soccer, swimming, etc. I don’t have those opportunities afforded to me if I didn’t live in a privileged household.

I’m fully aware of how lucky I am to be living the life I am. Don’t waste it. Don’t waste this opportunity that god or whoever gave you in being born in your circumstance with everything that’s happened around you. Use your story and circumstances to better yourself and the world. Make your mark.

You’re going to do it through writing.

I know it.

You’re at the beginning my friend.

Enjoy the ride.